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4.29.26 Rebecca Rosenkrans
Roseau Jewelry Artist and Winner of the NW Star Award Becky Rosenkrans talked about receiving the award, creating jewelry, her creative process, her shop, and more!
She received the award on Saturday, April 25 at Warroad RiverPlace in Warroad during the NW Art Exhibit Awards Reception and Program for her jewelry artistry.
Rebecca (or Becky) has been creating one-of-a-kind jewelry for over 30 years since 1994. . Becky handcrafts new pieces of jewelry or recreates old into new with Greek and Italian leather, beads, crafted chain maille, glass, stone, silver, crystal, and vintage goods.
Becky is the owner of Bead Gypsy, a shop in Roseau where handmade goods and original art from over 20 artists are sold. Located in a 1905 former bank building, the store is a haven for artists and arts lovers who live and visit the region. She readily shares her knowledge, creativity, and talents and is a tireless advocate for fellow artists.
Rosenkrans grew up in a creative family , including her mother Frances Karlsson who was a well-known painter from the region. For over 14 years she worked with the court system as a Guardian ad Litem, which was an intense and sad job. She had always loved jewelry and found that creating it helped her relieve stress and worry from that position.
Becky especially enjoys creating the design and repurposing items. She’s made earrings from old, galvanized steel she collected from the old, torn down Roseau grain elevator and vintage cookie tins. She reshapes old silverware to magically transform into beautiful pendants and bracelets. Another example of this is when her husband discovered her mom’s copper boiler buried behind the garage. Becky and her siblings bathed in this boiler as toddlers and later used it to soak their clothes before washing as they grew up. After digging up and cleaning the vessel, Becky flattened it out and created hundreds of pieces of jewelry from it. One of the pieces was on display at Warroad RiverPlace. She admitted, “it was the most fun and creative things that I could do.”
Becky shared advice for aspiring artists. “Just start and let the creativity just flow. Find a mentor. Come and ask me and I’ll help you. Don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t work out. It makes you happy to create something with your own hands.”
The NW Star Award comes with $5,000. Artists can only receive it once as a lifetime achievement award. Funding for the Northwest Star comes from The McKnight Foundation. Three awards are given each year to recognize artists and arts advocates within our seven-county region who stand out in terms of artistry or volunteerism in the arts. Of the Year Award winners were nominated by area residents.
Congratulations, Becky! Listen to hear their entire conversation.
11.26.25 Rebecca Rosenkrans
Jeweler Rebecca Rosenkrans and owner of Bead Gypsy in Roseau spoke about how she became a jeweler and how her shop came to be. She creates and sells jewelry from vintage flatware, leather, beads, Chain Maille (a weaving of a jump ring), brass, copper, and other metals, and more. She learned silversmithing from the Milan Village Arts School in Milan, Minnesota. She does take custom orders. The shop sells pottery, rosemaling, books, weavings, knitting, wood carvings, and other items created by 16 area artisans, as well as items from Sweden and other Scandinavian countries. She serves Fika (coffee and treats) every day and they celebrate Scandinavian holidays. Stop into this shop for locally crafted treasures. Find her on Minnesota Bead Gypsy on Facebook. The store is downtown Roseau on Main Ave. Listen to learn more!
8.13.25 Christine Sibilleau and Tami Borgen
The Roseau Gazebo Night Series is a summer-long series of musical concerts and performances for audiences of all ages in Roseau at the gazebo. Christine Sibilleau and Tami Borgen spoke about this weekly evening of free outdoor entertainment that the NWMAC provides funding for. The series was started in 2021 by the Women of Today and other volunteers. In addition to speaking of the history of the series, they gave a recap of the line up this year. Upcoming is a local talent night that they host each year. You can learn more on their FB page @RoseauGazeboNight. Listen for details!
11.20.24 Angelina Korb
Roseau native Angelina Korb painted a mural wall in Roseau. She spoke with Phil about the process of creating the mural, her background and arts interests, and more. Listen to hear the details.
11.21.23 Becky Rosenkrans
Jewelry Artist Becky Rosenkrans is the owner of Minnesota BeadGypsy in Roseau. Becky spoke about her shop, making jewelry, and upcoming events. With holiday shopping in full swing, it’s a great time to make a trip to Roseau to check it out. Becky is a jeweler and the shop includes her work and artwork from many local artists, including pottery, rosemaling, books, fiber arts, and much more. It's a fun place to visit and support local art.
7.11.23 Julie Elick
Roseau Artist Julie Elick spoke about two programs in Roseau. 1) The Riverview Park Concert Series is a weekly series into August. Roseau’s weekly summer event, began way back in 2016 and still continues to provide a showcase both for our high quality local talent, and professional entertainment. Elick is a part of the Roseau Women of Today. This group plays a major role in putting this concert series together, along with the support of local businesses.
There is a concert at the Riverview Park Gazebo, located in downtown Roseau, every Thursday evening at 6:30 pm. Attendees need to bring your own chairs. Food provided by various organizations will be served each night.
Upcoming concerts include:
July 13: Sloughgrass, July 27: Divas Through the Decades, August 3: O’Neil Family Band, August 10: Holy Rocka Rollaz, and August 17: The concert series will wrap up with a Local Talent Showcase and the Relay for Life.
2) Project Write On. Select students from two Roseau Community High School English classes, have for the last 4 years, shared their essays to be published in the local newspaper, The Roseau Times Region. Elick and two highschool teachers, Mrs. Kelsey Didrickson, and Mrs. Katie Laugen are directing this project.
This project instills the arts into the Roseau community by providing a weekly place for students in our area to enhance their writing talents. Currently, copies of the published essays are displayed in the Student Art Exhibit at the NWMAC Gallery at NCTC.
Both of these projects (Write On and The Riverview Park Concert Series) are funded through a Project Grant from the NWMAC. Listen to hear about these projects.
4.18.23 Kate Hammer and Mike Anderson
The focus of this podcast is our Art of Addiction Exhibit . The first guest is Artist Kate Hammer of Roseau. She spoke about her pottery or ceramics and the NWMAC exhibit Art of Addiction that is currently open at our gallery at NCTC. The bulk of the exhibit features Kate’s works on the topic of addiction. Here's a video tour of the exhibit: https://youtu.be/QMU-LXZzkEc. Watch the video to see all of the pieces of art in this exhibit. Kate sells her work at art shows. Her work in the exhibit includes vases, platters, postcards, tiles, acrylic paintings, and more. Some of these works are for sale.
The second guest is Mike Anderson. Mike manages the Northwestern Apartments transitional living facility in Crookston. Residents at NW Apartments created artwork for the Art of Addiction exhibit — 9 12 x12 canvas paintings are included in the exhibit that were created in a workshop with the residents. Earlier Mike stated, “For those who have struggled with mental health and substance use problems in their life, recovery is a sometimes long and arduous path. Often it can literally be a life and death struggle. Residents of the Northwestern Apartments (NWA) transitional living facility know that struggle intimately. Many residents come to NWA from inpatient mental health facilities, homeless shelters, substance use programs, and incarceration. Criteria for admission is to have a serious mental illness, and about 3/4 of residents also have a co-occurring substance use disorder. But whether it is stabilizing mental health symptoms, or the daily challenge to stay clean and sober, recovery is the goal of all. Inclusion in this art therapy project, The Art of Addiction, was a great way for residents to “go deeper.” After an initial session with local artist Trey Everett, the residents engaged with supplies and canvas to work on their own creation, with the general theme of addiction and recovery as a guide. Residents spent a week with their art. Many did several art pieces. Some were unable to finish one. Others felt their art was too personal to put on display. The project was captivating – residents were in the community room, sometimes alone, sometimes in groups, at all times of the day and night, working on their art, talking, and healing. One of the keys to recovery is connection, and this project provided that in addition to a personal and therapeutic experience that helped all involved on their healing path.”
Listen to the podcast to learn more!
2.14.23 Mitchell Johnson
Roseau resident and President of the Northern Lights Concert Association Mitchell Johnson is featured on this podcast. Mitchell spoke about the Northern Lights Concert Association and the concerts they have coming up. Check out the schedule, make plans to attend, and listen to learn all about it!
1.17.23 Janet Johnson
Featured on this podcast is Roseau Artist Janet Johnson. Janet has pottery at the Bead Gypsy in Roseau and she shared info about many of the other artists with work there, too. There are weavers and quality knitters, Julene Juhl from Greenbush is a glass artist and Jean Honl has rosemaling. It’s a great destination store, and the coffee is always on!
Janet is a former teacher. Recently, Janet's personal pottery has been hampered by the lack of a kiln and other commitments, but she's developed some fun pieces that have been popular, like her egg separators and thumb spoons. She received a grant in 2014 to purchase a wheel, supplies, and an old manual kiln for $500 and she just received another grant to purchase a new kiln (since her old one died — she's worn it out developing her craft and expanding her business.
Janet is a TARP (Teaching Artist Roster Program) artist. She took our free training that teaches artists numerous tools to help artists secure residencies and offer them successfully. Janet is a wonderful teacher and talented artist. She’s also on our enhanced artist listing. We are so fortunate to have her in our region. Listen to hear more!
3.8.22 Kate Hammer
Kate Hammer of Roseau is featured on this week’s podcast. Kate is a potter and the owner of Pretty Dirt Pottery. Kate has received grants from the NWMAC. Her most recent grant was for 1) a portable slab roller to allow her to do public demonstrations and teach at different locations in the community; 2) Pottery forms for handbuilding made of wood and used to produce platters and plates; 3) Tools and supplies to allow for a greater audience, back to back classes, and replacements. She also purchased materials, clay, stains and glazes. Listen to hear about her process, inspiration, the 56751 series, and classes that she’s teaching.
3.1.22 Karen Engevik
Karen Engevik of Black Horse Pottery was this week’s featured podcast. Karen recently completed a grant that she had received from the NWMAC. Karen and Ron West spoke about the process of creating pottery, her inspiration (horses), her business, and the grant (and the NWMAC). Her pottery is available for purchase and it’s all food safe. Listen to hear about it!